An Updated IVP Preamp! With a Really Loud Dinosaur!

One of the most complex builds I've done in the past is the AionFX Intersound IVP pre-amp. I finished one up almost two years ago. It was a beast of a build. I was happy with the build itself, but the enclosure I used was both fairly unimaginative and had a minor error in the UV printing. I had recently gotten a request for an IVP build, so I decided to go all out this time and come up with something really amazing.

Special Dinovember 2023 Edition Dimetrodon Distortion Build Report!

A while back I had a Dimetrodon Distortion enclosure that had a bit of a problem. It had gotten scratched up, although the UV printing on the face of the enclosure was just great. I'd had mixed results trying to paint enclosures in the past, but I found some powder coat spray paint (rather than having to go through the powder coating process) and I figured this would be a great opportunity to see if I could recover a damaged enclosure - and then I decided to take it a few steps further!

Kloned Kentrosaurus Block 3 Mini Build Report!

The Kloned Kentrosaurus is one my favorite pedals. I'd initially built several using the South Obolon FX Kent Rev 2 board. Then my friend updated the board with the Steggo logo and Kloned Kentrosaurus name and I've used that PCB for all subsequent builds. It's an amazing board, but there was only one drawback. As the Klon is a buffered effect, I didn't have a suitable daughter board for the LED and stomp switch, so the production dinos had to hand wire each pedal. Since the pedal has proved popular, I figured it would save time if there was a suitable daughter board that would enable the use of ribbon cable and reduce the lengths of hookup wire in the enclosure - so Steggi went to work in EasyEDA and came up with something amazing!

Steggo and Steggi with a panel of the new daughter boards

Seeing Red - Cloning a Unique Overdrive Pedal

I was looking for a unique and fun overdrive project when I came across the PedalPCB Bloodshot overdrive. It's a clone of the Heavy Electronics Red Eyes - which is a very cool pedal. Not only is it a really responsive dirty overdrive pedal, but on the originals the red LED clipping diodes are mounted to the front of the enclosure, so you can see them as the pedal is used. I didn't go that route with my build, but it looks like it might be possible with a little creative wiring.

Updating the Dimetrodon Distortion - A New Deluxe Version!

Back in June Steggo released its first original pedal design, the Dimetrodon Distortion. I love it (obviously), and a lot of other people have picked one up and really seem to be enjoying them. The only limitation of the original design was the fact that you had to pick one of the at least six major variations of the Big Muff based tone stack during the build unless you socketed components, which is a nightmare in a production pedal. I ultimately went with a fairly scooped mids version - the '75 Ram's Head - for the primary variant. However, at the time I mentioned that I wanted to try something like what was done on the AionFX Halo board and add a three way mids switch. After some work laying out the changes to the circuit and finding a switch that would work, Steggo is proud to introduce the next iteration of the Dimetrodon Distortion, the "Deluxe" which includes a three-way switch to toggle between three tone stack modes!

Is It Distortion? Is It Sustain? A New SS-3 Clone!

A little over a year ago a built the AionFX Soma - their clone of the Cornish SS-3 - and called it the "Dimetrodon Distortion 2." This was before the complete re-work of the Dimetrodon Distortion pedal into its current form, and honestly the SS-3 is a little bit of a different beast than a Distortion+, even with the shared DNA. Recently I'd gotten a request for a new SS-3 clone, so I worked with the requestor to come up with a new prehistoric creature to serve as the mascot for the build. I also transitioned over to the PedalPCB Semi-Sweet Distortion 3 board in the process.

A Truly Dino Bluesbreaker Clone!

The Marshall Bluesbreaker is one of the all-time classic pedals which sought to re-create the sound of the legendary Marshall Bluesbreaker amplifier from 1962. Original units have gone out of production and command a fairly high price, and there are some recent re-issues that aren't terribly expensive, but aren't terribly cheap either. I'd previously built an AionFX version of the Bluesbreaker, the Cerulean, which adds some different clipping modes to the circuit, but I'd never built a "stock" Bluesbreaker clone. My friend at South Obolon FX was kind enough to make a Steggo version of his board, so I started from there for an awesome dinosaur version.